Apple M1 (7-GPU) vs Apple A12Z Bionic. Specifications, performance, tests

Background information about the processors being compared, series, generation and market segment.

• CPU group
  Apple M1 Apple A12/A12X/A12Z
• Family
  Apple M series Apple A series
• Generation
  1 12
• Predecessor
  - Apple A10X Fusion
• Segment
  Mobile Mobile

Core counts, threads, cache and clock modes describe the CPU configuration. Performance depends on the workload and comparable measured results.

• A-Core
  4x Firestorm 4x Vortex
• A-Core Frequency
  3.2 GHz -
• B-Core
  4x Icestorm 4x Tempest
• B-Core Frequency
  2.06 GHz -
• Core architecture
  hybrid (big.LITTLE) hybrid (big.LITTLE)
• CPU Cores
  8 8
• CPU Threads
  8 8
• Hyperthreading / SMT
  No No
• Overclocking
  No No
• Base Frequency
  - 1.59 GHz
• Turbo Frequency (1 Core)
  - 2.49 GHz
• Turbo Frequency (8 Cores)
  - 2.49 GHz

Internal Graphics does not affect the performance of the CPU, performs the work of the graphics card in its absence or on mobile devices.

• Execution units
  112 8
• Generation
  1 9
• GPU Frequency
  1300 MHz 1590 MHz
• GPU name
  Apple M1 (7 Core) Apple A12Z
• GPU Turbo
  No turbo 2490 MHz
• Max. displays
  2 2
• Max. GPU Memory
  8 GB 6 GB
• Release date
  Q4/2020 Q1/2020
• Shader
  896 0
• Technology
  5 nm 7 nm

Built-in codecs used to encode and decode content. Significantly speeds up the required operations.

• AV1
  No No
• H.264 / AVC
  Conflicting source values: Decode | Decode / Encode Conflicting source values: Decode | Decode / Encode
• h265 / HEVC (8 bit)
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• h265 / HEVC (10 bit)
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• JPEG
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode
• VC-1
  Decode Decode
• VP8
  Decode Decode / Encode
• VP9
  Decode / Encode Decode / Encode

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by Apple A12Z Bionic and Apple M1 (7-GPU). Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• ECC
  No No
• Max. Memory
  16 GB 16 GB
• Memory Bandwidth
  68.2 GB/s -
• Memory channels
  2 (Dual Channel) 2
• Memory type
  LPDDR4X-4266 LPDDR4X-4266
• PCIe
  4.0 -

• AES-NI
  Yes No

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Apple M1 (7-GPU) and Apple A12Z Bionic Power specifications describe different manufacturer limits. TDP, base power and maximum turbo power are separate values; they do not establish measured system consumption.

• TDP (PL1, legacy label)
  15 W 15 W
• TDP down
  10 W -
• TDP up
  20 W -

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Apple M1 (7-GPU) and Apple A12Z Bionic, virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Architecture
  M1 A12
• Chip design
  Chiplet -
• Instruction set (ISA)
  ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) x86-64 (64 bit)
• ISA extensions
  Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation -
• L2-Cache
  16 MB 8 MB
• Operating systems
  macOS -
• Part Number
  APL 1102 -
• Release date
  Q4/2020 Q1/2020
• Technology
  5 nm 7 nm
• Virtualization
  Apple Virtualization Framework None